Roger Johnson (footballer)

Roger Johnson (born 28 April 1983) is an English football coach and retired footballer who is currently under-23s manager at Bromley FC.[4]

Roger Johnson
Johnson in Wolves pre-season, 2011
Personal information
Full name Roger Johnson[1]
Date of birth (1983-04-28) 28 April 1983
Place of birth Ashford, England
Height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)[1]
Position(s) Defender
Youth career
1998–2000 Wycombe Wanderers
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2000–2006 Wycombe Wanderers[2] 157 (19)
2006–2009 Cardiff City 119 (12)
2009–2011 Birmingham City 76 (2)
2011–2015 Wolverhampton Wanderers 69 (2)
2013–2014 → Sheffield Wednesday (loan) 17 (0)
2014 → West Ham United (loan) 4 (0)
2015 Charlton Athletic 14 (0)
2015 Pune City 11 (0)
2016–2017 Charlton Athletic 6 (0)
2017–2019 Bromley[lower-alpha 1] 52 (2)
Total 525 (37)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Johnson began his career with Wycombe Wanderers, where he spent six years as a professional. He then joined Welsh side Cardiff City in 2006 for £275,000. He was part of the team that reached the 2008 FA Cup Final and was twice chosen as the club's Player of the Year in his three-year stint with the club.

He moved into the Premier League by signing for Birmingham City in 2009 for £5 million, with whom he won the 2011 League Cup. He departed Birmingham in 2011 after their relegation to join Midlands neighbours Wolverhampton Wanderers, with whom he suffered two further consecutive relegations, leading to his exclusion from first team involvement. After loan spells with Sheffield Wednesday and West Ham United, Johnson left Wolves by mutual consent, and spent the latter part of the 2014–15 season with Charlton Athletic. He played for Indian Super League club Pune City in 2015 before returning to Charlton in January 2016. Released at the end of the season, Johnson signed a short-term contract with Bromley in October 2017.

Career

Wycombe Wanderers

Johnson spent time at Portsmouth and Bournemouth before joining Wycombe Wanderers as a 15-year-old, where he developed through the club's youth system.[5] He made his first-team debut for Wycombe in the final game of the 1999–2000 season against Cambridge United,[2] becoming the youngest ever player to make a Football League appearance for the club at the time, at the age of 17 years and 8 days.[5] The following season, Johnson also made one substitute appearance, and was on the bench as Wycombe beat Premier League club Leicester City in the FA Cup quarter finals.[6] The 2003–04 season saw Johnson in and out of the side under manager Tony Adams but he was still awarded the Fans' Player of the Year Award.[5]

After the departure of Adams after one season (6 months), Johnson became a regular in the side and was handed the captaincy by new manager John Gorman when he took over in November 2004, as well as finishing second in the player of the year award to forward Nathan Tyson.

Cardiff City

After 183 appearances and 22 goals for Wycombe,[5] Johnson joined Cardiff City on 4 July 2006 for a fee of £275,000; Cardiff's local rivals Swansea City £100,000 bid was rejected.[7]

Johnson had a strong first year at Cardiff, and after spending the first six months as a regular substitute, began to form a dominant pairing with Dutchman Glenn Loovens which saw them keep club captain Darren Purse out of the side. In the 2007–08 season he began to score goals, with late winners against Norwich City in the League[8] and Brighton & Hove Albion in the League Cup,[9] as well as vital equalisers against Hull City[10] and Preston North End.[11] Johnson scored the second goal of Cardiff's memorable 2–0 away victory over Premier League Middlesbrough in the 2007–08 FA Cup quarter final,[12] and his header in the Severnside Derby match against Bristol City in March 2008 was his seventh goal of the season.[13] He played in all six of Cardiff's matches on their way to the FA Cup Final, in which they lost 1–0 to Portsmouth,[14] and at the end of the season he was awarded the club's Player of the Year award.[15]

The summer transfer window saw prolonged interest in Johnson; both Ipswich Town and West Bromwich Albion had bids rejected.[15][16] Despite the interest Johnson remained with the side into the new season although he did see his centre-back partner Glenn Loovens leave to join Celtic. On the opening day of the season, Johnson scored a late winning goal against Southampton as Cardiff came away with a 2–1 win. Despite continued changes in his defensive partner, having played alongside Loovens, Purse and new signing Gábor Gyepes, who forced his way into the side past Purse in November,[17] Johnson passed 100 appearances for the club, and had played every minute of the season[18] until he had to leave the field during a 2–0 victory over Crystal Palace on 11 April 2009, after being hit in the throat by an elbow from Palace defender Claude Davis. After the incident Johnson suffered breathing difficulties and was forced to spend two nights in hospital as well as having daily checks throughout the following week.[15][19][20] Davies was found guilty of violent conduct by the Football Association and banned for three matches.[21] Johnson was forced to miss the next match, a 3–1 win over Burnley, but returned for the 6–0 defeat to Preston North End the following week.[22] He was chosen as the club's player of the year for the second year running,[15] and was named in the Championship Team of the Year.[23]

Birmingham City
Playing for Birmingham, September 2009

In June 2009, after two previous bids had been rejected, Cardiff accepted an offer of £5m from Birmingham City.[18] Johnson, described by former teammate Tony Capaldi as "definitely captain material",[24] signed a three-year deal with the club on 25 June 2009, stating "Premier League football is the dream at the start of any footballer's career so I am pleased I have been given that chance with Birmingham and I can't wait to get started."[18] He made "an impressive debut" in Birmingham's first match of the season, a 1–0 defeat at Manchester United.[25] He was part of the Birmingham team which went 12 games unbeaten, a club record for the top flight;[26] at Christmas, The Times' correspondent Patrick Barclay described Johnson and defensive partner Scott Dann as "the players of 2009–10 thus far";[27] and Johnson was suggested as a possible England player.[26] Johnson scored his first goal for the club away against Bolton Wanderers on 29 August 2010,[28] and his second opened the scoring in the Second City derby against Aston Villa in January 2011.[29]

Johnson's header set up the opening goal for Nikola Žigić as Birmingham City defeated favourites Arsenal 2–1 to win the 2011 Football League Cup Final. The Daily Telegraph described him as "an inspiring defensive presence throughout".[30]

Wolverhampton Wanderers

On 11 July 2011, Birmingham accepted a bid from Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers for Johnson.[31] Two days later, Johnson signed a four-year contract with Wolves.[32] The fee was officially undisclosed, and the club claimed that reports of a £7m fee were inaccurate; the Wolverhampton-based Express & Star newspaper reported that the club had paid "a flat fee with no add-ons" of "just over £4m".[33]

Johnson was almost immediately handed the captaincy of Wolves by Mick McCarthy shortly before the start of the new season, relieving former captain Karl Henry of his duties.[34] The season proved problematic for Johnson and his new team though and McCarthy was sacked in February 2012, following which Johnson said the players had let the manager down.[35] After assistant manager Terry Connor was promoted to fill the vacancy, Johnson featured in only two further matches that season. During March 2012 he was disciplined by the club after turning up for training "unfit to train properly",[36] widely reported as being due to alcohol;[37] the player apologised for his conduct,[38] and retained the captaincy.[36] Later that same month, he had an on-field dispute with teammate Wayne Hennessey.[39]

With the club relegated back to the Championship, new manager Ståle Solbakken brought Johnson back into the team.[40] Solbakken was however dismissed in January 2013, and although Johnson retained his place in the team, once again the club were relegated, meaning Johnson had now been relegated in each of the last three seasons.[41]

With the arrival of Kenny Jackett as Wolves manager, it was announced in June 2013 that Johnson was available for transfer and he was not issued with a squad number.[42][43] No sale took place during the summer transfer window, and on 16 September, Johnson joined Championship club Sheffield Wednesday on loan for three months.[44] He made 17 loan appearances before the deal expired, but Sheffield Wednesday caretaker manager Stuart Gray confirmed that he was attempting to extend the loan agreement.[45]

On 6 January 2014, he joined Premier League club West Ham United on loan for the remainder of the 2013–14 season.[46] Johnson played six games in all competitions for West Ham, his first coming on 8 January 2014 in a 6–0 away defeat to Manchester City in a semi-final of the League Cup.[47]

Johnson remained at Wolves, now back in the Championship, at the start of the 2014–15 season after the club received no offers during the close season for the player.[48] He was again not issued with a squad number and did not play any first team football during the first half of the campaign. In an interview on Soccer AM, Johnson revealed he trained during afternoons, away from the first team group, but "would probably give up a fair amount of money if I just walked out".[49] On 2 February 2015, the final day of the January transfer window, it was announced that his contract with Wolves had been terminated by mutual consent.[50]

Charlton Athletic

On 3 February 2015, following the termination of his contract with Wolves, Johnson signed a deal with Championship side Charlton Athletic to last until the end of the season.[51] He started 14 of Charlton's remaining 16 matches.[52]

On 12 May 2015, Johnson was released at the end of his contract.[53]

Pune City

On 18 August 2015, Johnson joined Indian Super League side FC Pune City for the 2015 tournament.[54]

Return to Charlton Athletic

On 4 January 2016, Johnson re-signed for Charlton Athletic on an 18-month contract.[55] He was released in May 2017.[56]

Bromley

Johnson signed for National League club Bromley on a short-term deal in October 2017. He made his debut on 14 October in an FA Cup fourth qualifying round match away to Dover Athletic,[57] playing until the 90th minute and helping his team achieve a goalless draw.[58] Johnson helped Bromley reach the FA Trophy final at Wembley Stadium against Brackley Town, however he conceded an own goal in the 95th minute. Bromley went on to lose on a penalty shoot-out.[59] While at Bromley he used his Cardiff City connections to get on the Football Association of Wales' coaching course to attain a UEFA A licence.[60] On 16 May 2019, Bromley announced that Johnson had left the club.[61] The following year he returned to the club as manager of the under-23s team.

Club statistics
As of match played 27 April 2019
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Other Total
Division AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Wycombe Wanderers 1999–2000[2] Second Division 1000000010
2000–01[6] Second Division 1000000010
2001–02[62] Second Division 7100002[lower-alpha 2]091
2002–03[63] Second Division 33300101[lower-alpha 2]0353
2003–04[64] Second Division 28230203[lower-alpha 2]1363
2004–05[65] League Two 42621103[lower-alpha 2]0487
2005–06[66] League Two 45710215[lower-alpha 3]0538
Wycombe Wanderers total 15719616114118322
Cardiff City 2006–07[67] Championship 3220010—332
2007–08[14] Championship 4256141—527
2008–09[22] Championship 4553030—515
Cardiff City total 119129181—13614
Birmingham City 2009–10[68] Premier League 3805000—430
2010–11[29] Premier League 3821061—453
Birmingham City total 7626061—883
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2011–12[69] Premier League 2701000—280
2012–13[70] Championship 4221010—442
2013–14[47] League One 0000000000
2014–15[52] Championship 000000—00
Wolverhampton Wanderers total 692201000722
Sheffield Wednesday (loan) 2013–14[47] Championship 170———170
West Ham United (loan) 2013–14[47] Premier League 40—20—60
Charlton Athletic 2014–15[52] Championship 140———140
FC Pune City 2015[71] Indian Super League 110———110
Charlton Athletic 2015–16[72] Championship 4010——50
2016–17[73] League One 2010103[lower-alpha 4]070
Charlton Athletic total 60201030120
Bromley 2017–18[71] National League 19[lower-alpha 1]130—7[lower-alpha 5]0291
2018–19[71] National League 33111—1[lower-alpha 6]0352
Bromley total 52241—80643
Career total 5253729324325160344
  1. Both Soccerbase and Soccerway omit one 2017–18 National League match. Soccerbase omits the match at Tranmere Rovers on 17 February, Soccerway omits the match at Aldershot Town on 20 February. Johnson played in both fixtures, as confirmed at Bromley F.C.'s website.[3]
  2. Appearance(s) in Football League Trophy
  3. Three appearances in Football League Trophy, two in Football League Two play-offs
  4. Appearances in EFL Trophy
  5. Appearances in FA Trophy
  6. Appearances in FA Trophy

Honours

Cardiff City

Birmingham City

Bromley

Individual

Personal life

Johnson was born in Ashford, Surrey.[1] He attended St Michael's Middle School in Colehill, Dorset,[77] and then Queen Elizabeth's School, Wimborne Minster.[78] Together with his brothers, Johnson supported Chelsea; he held a season ticket for ten years.[79] As of 2010, Johnson and his wife Melissa had a daughter named Brooke.[80]

References
  1. Hugman, Barry, ed. (2005). The PFA Footballers' Who's Who 2005/2006. Queen Anne Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-1-85291-662-6.
  2. Soccerbase omit Johnson's debut appearance, against Cambridge United on 6 May 2000, attributing it to another player: "Cambridge v Wycombe Saturday 6th May 2000". Chairboys on the Net. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
    "Wycombe results: 1999/00". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
  3. "Report: Tranmere Rovers 1–0 Bromley". Bromley F.C. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
    "Report: Aldershot Town 1–1 Bromley". Bromley F.C. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  4. "Interview: Roger Johnson appointed U23s Manager". Bromley Football Club. 11 September 2020. Retrieved 21 September 2020.
  5. "Roger Johnson". Chairboys on the Net. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  6. "Games played by Roger Johnson in 2000/2001". Soccerbase. Centurycomm. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
  7. "Cardiff beat Swansea to Johnson". BBC Sport. 4 July 2006. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  8. "Norwich 1–2 Cardiff". BBC Sport. 1 September 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  9. "Cardiff 1–0 Brighton (aet)". BBC Sport. 14 August 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
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  11. "Preston 1–2 Cardiff". BBC Sport. 29 December 2007. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  12. Dulin, David (9 March 2008). "Middlesbrough 0–2 Cardiff". BBC Sport. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
  13. "Cardiff 2–1 Bristol City". BBC Sport. 22 March 2008. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
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  15. Phillips, Terry (16 May 2009). "Cardiff City set to offer skipper's armband to Roger Johnson". WalesOnline. Media Wales. Retrieved 17 September 2013.
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  74. Williams, Adam (20 May 2018). "FA Trophy final: Brackley Town beat Bromley 5–4 on penalties after 1–1 draw". BBC Sport. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  75. "Gerrard named player of the year". BBC Sport. 23 April 2006. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  76. "Giggs earns prestigious PFA award". BBC Sport. 26 April 2009. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
  77. "Wolves player returns to St Michael's". Stour & Avon Magazine. This is Dorset. 5 July 2013. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  78. Wadley, Ian (17 May 2008). "Roger hoping for a Wembley win". Daily Echo. Bournemouth. Retrieved 20 September 2013.
  79. "Wolves captain and lifelong Chelsea fan Roger Johnson guns for his heroes". Express & Star. Wolverhampton. 25 November 2011. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
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